About Me

There was an earlier day in my life when I had plenty of time and no money for my hobby, now I have money for my hobby and not so much time. I never stopped playing with toy soldiers "much to my mothers chagrin" exchanging the sandbox, green armymen and rocks for Donald Featherstone's book Wargames, AWI soldiers from the back of a comic book, dice and rulers. Those early games were great fun and very exciting. Eventually I graduated to more complicated systems, better miniatures, headaches, rule arguments and basically not a lot of fun. I thought about ditching the hobby altogether. I realized recently that I like a good game of toy soldiers. I like the look of toy soldiers and I like the way a simple game plays. I like the trusty d6.

Wednesday, November 29, 2006

Egyptians and Russian Rifles

Today I have a few shots of a regiment of Egyptians and my Brigade of Russian Rifles. I have much more to post in the coming few weeks so stay tuned.

The Egyptians formed a separate division in the war operating out of the quadrilateral fortresses; they were involved in the operations to relieve Osman Pasha in Pleven.

This was another easy conversion. The Irregular Miniatures Turkish figure is actually closer to an Egyptian for this period then an Ottoman soldier. I used an exacto-knife and scrapped off the trouser bottoms about half way up the figures calf. After that it was a simple job to paint them in leggings with dark blue uniforms and white trim. The flag is based loosely upon a civic standard from the period. I wanted to differentiate my Egyptian forces from the Ottomans and to do that I will be using green flags for the four Regiments.

The 1st Egyptian Regiment deployed in a firing line. I'll paint one other unit in the same color/uniform scheme for brigade unity of appearance. I'd like to paint a regiment in all white (circa 1880); although I think that would be taking significant liberties. Instead I think the second two regiments will wear the blue tunic and white trousers. Each regiment will have a unique standard.

Here we have the detail picture of the rifles. I had thought to use the militia figure at rest, in fur cap, for the Rifles and Bulgarians. Instead Irregular came to the rescue with a brand new group of figures. I'll be using these figures for the Bulgarian Legion also, when I paint them. They are painted without conversion; trouser color indicates the regiment assignment. The Brigadier is wearing the white fur reserved for senior officers and blue dress trousers.

The Russian Rifle Brigade advances! At this point in history there is very little difference between rifles and line infantry. As riflemen they could be armed with the Berdan rifle instead of the Krnk; that would give them range and firepower to equal the Turkish troops who were armed with the Martini-Peabody rifle.